Background/Purpose
Physical education students are expected to learn in the affective, cognitive, and psychomotor domains. In addition, it has become increasingly important for students to learn health-related fitness knowledge and understand positive implications of physical activity for life. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which studying workbooks in physically active lessons helped elementary school students learn important concepts of flexibility and nutrition in a 10-lesson fitness education unit.
Method
Students in fourth (n = 381) grade from 13 randomly selected urban elementary schools from a large school district answered 49 questions structured in 10 lessons (2-9 questions in each) while learning flexibility and nutrition concepts through moderate/vigorous physical activity tasks. The students' mastery of workbook concepts was determined using structured rubrics that were validated using a consensus-establishment validation process among four researchers. Students' knowledge acquisition was measured on a standardized flexibility/nutrition knowledge test prior to and after the 10-lesson unit.
Analysis/Results
Multiple regression with knowledge test gain scores as the dependent variable and workbook mastery scores as the predictors indicated that in-class workbook assignments accounted for a large portion of variance in learning (R2 = 0.44, p < 0.05).
Conclusions
The findings suggest that students' achievement in studying information in the workbook, while engaged in physical tasks, contributed to their achievement on the standardized test. From an educational standpoint, these findings verified the notion that writing intensive learning activities in physical education may be necessary for students to effectively learn and master vital cognitive knowledge about health-related fitness concepts.